


Float On

by sailorchiron



Series: And the Reason is You [5]
Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Michael Guerin Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-25 21:14:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20730857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorchiron/pseuds/sailorchiron
Summary: Day four of Michael Guerin Week 2019 - The tropier the better





	Float On

**Author's Note:**

> Ugh, this fic is over a day late! I was so tired yesterday that I got nothing done on it. Anyway, here we go! I went with hurt/comfort, one of my favorite tropes! Since I'm keeping all the fics in this universe, a fake dating fic wouldn't work, and those are THE BEST.

It was an extremely lazy Saturday morning and they were snuggled up together in Michael’s bed, still in pajamas. Okay, well, they’d worn pajamas and hoodies to breakfast in the dining hall, but the fact remained that they were still in their pajamas. They’d fought briefly over who got to wear the incredibly soft pants with hideous palm trees on them, and Michael had won. Alex’s argument was always that they were actually _his_ pants. Michael’s was usually just tickling Alex until he gave in. It was very effective.

“You asleep?” Michael murmured, running his hand through his boyfriend’s silky hair. 

“Huh uh,” Alex answered, sounding like he was teetering on the edge of consciousness. “I actually don’t want to go back to sleep and waste the entire day.” To prove this, he pulled away from Michael and stretched before propping himself up on one elbow and giving him a kiss. “What do you want to do today? And don’t you dare say get a headstart on homework.”

“That was _one time!”_

“It was blasphemy. What _fun_ things would you like to do today?”

“No idea, really. I kinda wanna get outside for a while.” He got antsy if he didn’t see the sky for too long. “Wanna go out to the desert?”

Alex shook his head. “It’s too cold. With nothing to stop the wind out there we’ll freeze.”

Michael had to concede the point. “Yah, you’re probably right. Walking around campus sounds boring, though. Any other ideas?”

“I kinda want to skate, but that’d probably be boring for you.”

Michael shot up. “I’ve never seen you skate, though, that wouldn’t be boring.”

Alex laughed. “Okay, if you’re sure. I could even try to teach you how if you want.”

“Uh, okay.” 

“It’s not that hard, you’re smart and coordinated. Unless you don’t think you can do it.”

Oh, that was a challenge if ever he’d heard one. “Watch me.”

They both threw on clothes, or, well, jeans and shoes, leaving on their t-shirts and UNM hoodies. Michael suspected he was actually wearing Alex’s, it smelled like a combination of lavender and just Alex. He watched him pull a beanie on over his hair, which had gotten a lot longer since move in. Michael thought it was gorgeous, and especially liked that it was too long for him to gel it into submission. Maria wanted him to bleach the ends and die it pink or something, and he absolutely refused. Alex wasn’t into the rainbow hair that a lot of emo kids liked.

“Are those specific shoes for skating?”

Alex looked up from where he was tying them. “Basically, yah. Vans are the original skateboarding shoes.” He stood and grabbed his board from where it had been propped against his desk all semester. “Let’s go find somewhere I can break the law.”

Michael laughed and followed him out the door. “Hey, do you think DeLuca would want to come with us?”

“Actually, yah,” Alex answered with a grin. “She’s my best cinematographer.” 

“She has videos of you skating?”

He nodded. “I’m surprised she’s never shown them to you, she’s proud of her photography skills. If you were on Facebook, you could have watched them already.” He glared.

“Not gonna happen, I don’t want to connect with people. Twitter is enough.” It was a long-standing and absolutely not serious argument. He pulled out his phone to text her.

_Michael: Hey Alex is going to endanger his life on a rolling piece of wood._

_Michael: Wanna come watch and film video evidence?_

_Maria: I was just thinking about how bored I was, so yes._

_Michael: Meet us out front._

“DeLuca will be joining us for your escapades.” 

“Awesome. Man, this place is a ghost town this weekend, it’s like everyone went home.”

“It really is. There were only three other people in the dining hall.”

The front steps and ramps were completely deserted, which was unusual. Michael watched Alex drop his board and put his foot on it. “I can skate here since no one’s around. I should see if there’s skate park in Albuquerque.”

“Is there one in Roswell?”

“Of course not,” Alex laughed. “I exclusively skated in places that it wasn’t allowed. There was an abandoned ranch house out on the edge of town with a huge empty pool, I did plenty of illegal skating there.” 

Michael watched him push off with his right foot and jump on when the board started moving. _I have no idea what the terminology is for this._ Alex stayed on the flat parts of the entryway, doing flip things that were different each time. He was suitably impressed.

“Are there names for these things?”

“Yah. Do you want to know them?”

“Not right now.”

He spotted Maria coming out the door of Laguna Hall. “Hey DeLuca. My boyfriend is showing us evidence of his juvenile delinquency.”

“Yah, juvenile delinquent that graduated with a 4.0.”

Michael laughed. “I’m also a juvenile delinquent that graduated with a 4.0 so I guess I can’t judge.”

Maria had her phone out. “Do something more interesting if you want me to take video.”

Alex laughed. “K.”

Michael watched with horror has he kicked the board away from himself and ran to jump onto it, then flew down the shallow stairs. He landed at the bottom without any outward signs of injury. “What the fuck, Alex?”

“I’ve gone down a lot worse stairs, Michael,” he laughed. 

Michael watched him climb back up the stairs. “How did you not fall?”

“You’re in physics.”

“Do a rail slide,” Maria called out.

“K.” 

Michael watched him skate from close to the building to the stairs, do some kind of flip with his board that made it go with him when he launched himself into the air, and then he fucking landed on the board on the railing and slid down to the bottom before jumping off, flipping the skateboard _again_, and landing on it. 

“Holy fuck.”

Alex laughed, breathless. “It’s more fun if the stairs are steeper.”

“I had no idea you were such an adrenaline junkie.”

“It counteracts my ability to fall asleep at the drop of a hat.” He carried the board back up the steps. “I’ve gone down three sets of railings before, it’s a rush.”

“And the only scar you have is the one on your forehead?”

“I’ve had some impressive road rash,” he laughed. “And a lot of bruises. But no scars or broken bones.”

“How did you learn all of these flips and moves and stuff?”

“Other skaters and YouTube. And a lot of trial and error. Wanna try it?”

“Um.”

“I can’t believe you’re scared.”

_Oh, no._ “I’m not scared.”

“Uh huh.” Alex smirked.

“Okay, fuck you, I’ll try.” 

They went down to the bottom of the steps. “Okay, let’s start at the very beginning.” Alex dropped his board and put is foot on it so it wouldn’t roll away. “There’s no way you _cannot_ do this.” He just pushed the board forward and settled his foot on it to glide forward a few feet. “You try.” Alex came close to him, and kissed his cheek. “No powers,” he whispered in his ear.

Michael nodded. He hadn’t planned to use his powers in front of Maria, but he understood Alex’s warning.

“Okay, so, here.” Alex stepped off his board. “Put your left foot on it, a little more than halfway to the front of the board.” He hovered a hand near his elbow in case he lost his balance. “Now, just gently push yourself forward with your right foot, and once you’re moving, put your right foot behind your left foot. When you want to stop, put your right foot back down.”

Michael did as instructed. “Okay, yes, this is easy.” He put his foot down to stop.

“So now go faster.”

Michael doubted the wisdom of that, but was _not_ going to back down from the challenge in Alex’s voice. He turned around so he’d be going toward Alex and Maria and away from the curb. Falling into the parking lot was not part of his plan for the day. This time he pushed off a little harder, pinwheeling his arms a little to keep his balance. When he tried to stop, the board went out from under him and he fell on his ass. 

“Graceful, Guerin.”

“I don’t see you trying.”

“I’m a dancer, I can’t risk these legs.”

Alex just held out his hand to help him get to his feet. “Welcome to how bad your ass will hurt later today. It’s impossible to learn to skate without falling.”

“Great.”

Michael just practiced staying on the board for a little while, and quickly learned that he had to put more muscle into keeping his balance. “My abs are going to hurt later, aren’t they?”

“Yep.”

It only took about 20 minutes for Michael to get the hang of it. Alex had been right when he’d said he was smart and coordinated and should be able to learn fairly easily. 

Unfortunately for Michael, he got cocky.

Alex showed him a ‘basic’ flip off the curb. It looked easy. Michael tried it on the flat concrete and had it down when he decided it couldn’t be hard to go off the curb and land on the board. He’d figured out how to keep his center of gravity over the flexible board.

So he tried it.

And epically failed.

“Fuck, Michael, are you okay?”

Michael looked up from where he was on the pavement to see Alex and Maria running over to him. Alex was on his knees next to him instantly. “I don’t think I’m okay.”

“I heard something crack.” Alex looked a little panicked. “What hurts?”

He took stock of his body. “Well, my ass, my hand, wrist, and arm, and my pride. But mostly my right ankle.” It fucking _hurt._

“Fuck.” Alex moved and gently pulled Michael’s left foot into his lap. “I’m going to take your shoe off.” He was as careful as possible removing it and his sock, then pushing his jeans up. “Can you try to move it?”

It took a Herculean effort to rotate his foot a little. “That fucking hurts.” 

“But you can move it, so it’s not broken, just sprained. Do you usually have bad swelling when you hurt yourself?”

“No idea, I’ve never sprained anything before.” _Good thing it’s not broken, since I can’t go to the hospital._

“Come on, let’s get you up off the ground and upstairs.” Alex crouched next to him and put his right arm over his shoulders. “Push off the ground with your left foot at the same time I stand up.”

Maria came over to help. “Here, use my shoulder for balance.”

Michael didn’t think he was really hurt this badly, but had to admit that it was nice to have people actually _care_ that he was in pain. “Okay, count of three?” With Alex and Maria, it wasn’t too hard to get up, but putting weight on his right foot was _agony._ “Fuck fuck fuck.”

“When we get upstairs I’ll go get some ice to put on it,” Alex promised. “And we’ve got Advil, it will help with the swelling, even if it doesn’t really touch the pain.”

“Okay.” He didn’t know if Advil would have any impact on his physiology, but it was worth a try.

Getting back up the shallow stairs was stupidly difficult, and not for the first time, Michael wished he could use telekinesis to move _himself._ He’d tried. It didn’t work. 

“We should see if anyone has crutches so you don’t have to waste time going to the health center,” Maria suggested. 

“Good idea.” 

They took the elevator even though it was only one floor. Michael was certainly happy to be wrapped up in Alex’s arms, but wished it was under other circumstances. Maria didn’t get out.

“You get him in bed, I’ll see if anyone on my floor has crutches. You know how many athletes are the fourth floor.”

“Thanks, DeLuca.” 

Once in the room, Alex helped him sit on his desk chair, and he groaned. “Have you sprained something skating? Because I can’t go to the doctor for obvious reasons.”

“Yah, I couldn’t go either. Keep the swelling down with ice and NSAIDs, stay off of it as much as possible. It’s going to hurt to get into bed.”

Michael sighed. Might as well let his last weird secret go. “Is your nail polish remover acetone or non-acetone?”

Alex gave him a look like he was crazy, but looked over at the dresser. “Acetone.”

“Hand it to me?” He huffed when Alex just stared at him. “Please, just trust me.”

“Okay…” He handed him the bottle and watched him unscrew the top.

“Please don’t freak out,” Michael asked before taking a swig of the sharp-tasting liquid. He’d often wondered what it tasted like to humans, but would never know since it was pretty fatal if swallowed in any quantity. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Alex yelled, eyes wide. “You can’t--”

He took another drink. He could already feel the effects, his muscles were relaxing, and the pain in his ankle was receding a little. “I can.” He put the cap back on the bottle. “I probably still need ice on it for the swelling, but it won’t hurt as much now, I’ll be able to get into bed.”

Alex closed his eyes. “How the fuck does nail polish remover work as a pain killer and why can you drink it without dying?”

Michael laughed a little. “It’s the acetone. It works like a cross between aspirin and alcohol.” 

“How the fuck did you figure that out? Why the fuck did you try drinking nail polish remover in the first place?”

It was starting to bother Michael that Alex was standing so far from him, like he was a freak now. He reached out a hand to him, and watched his posture soften immediately. He took his hand and kissed his cheek before grabbing his own chair and dragging it over to Michael’s. “Here put your foot in my lap, you should have it elevated.”

Michael repositioned himself before answering Alex’s earlier question. “I have to assume that acetone smells poisonous to you?”

“Yah, it’s one of the worst smelling things in the world.”

“It doesn’t smell like that to me. It smells...a little antiseptic, a little bit like fresh apples, and a little bit like mineral water. Pure acetone, like they use in salons, smells better than nail polish remover, since it has other ingredients.”

“Okay, my mind is blown.” Alex shook his head. “So it basically smells like medicine.”

“Basically.” 

“What inspired you to drink it?”

Michael closed his eyes. “When I was maybe eight or nine, I think it was with my second foster family, I found out it existed when the girls were doing their nails. They were complaining that it smelled terrible but I told them it smelled nice to me, and they laughed and told me I was weird.” He gave Alex a crooked smile. “From a human point of view, it’s weird. I didn’t know I wasn’t human at that point, but I was already aware that I was weird, so I tried not to let it bother me.”

“Kids are mean.”

“Yep. That placement was okay, no one was especially awful, but the dad lost his job in Albuquerque and they were moving to like North Carolina and we all got shuffled to different homes. My next placement was...not as nice. I was up in the middle of the night because I was starving and miserable, and saw the nail polish remover in the kitchen and just decided to taste it. I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in a couple days, and I just remembered how it smelled and decided to drink it to see if it tasted good, too. I wasn’t thinking about how I could possibly _die,”_ Michael explained, knowing Alex would jump to that conclusion. He hadn’t been suicidal. “It actually tasted okay, not exactly good, but not bad, and after about 30 seconds, I could feel the difference in my body. I was still hungry but it didn’t hurt as much. After another drink I couldn’t feel the bruises on my back and arms. I kept the bottle and hid it under my mattress.”

“Michael,” Alex started softly, “I’m so sorry. I’d kiss you but I’d hurt us both leaning forward.”

Michael smiled at him. “It’s okay, you can kiss me later.” Alex was so sweet. “Over the years I’ve gotten a lot of use out of it. The big scar on my left shoulder blade?” He waited for Alex to nod. “Yah, if I hadn’t had acetone then, I don’t know what I would have done, it hurt like hell.” 

“I’m glad no one can ever hurt you again. I love you so much, Michael.”

“I love you too, baby. I think I can get into bed now.”

“Take your jeans off and put pjs back on,” Alex suggested.

“Good plan.” 

Climbing up into his bed was pure hell but Michael was sure it would build character or something. Once he was settled against the pillows and covered up with all of their blankets, Alex climbed back down. “I’m going to go get ice, I’ll be right back, sweetheart.”

While Alex was gone, Michael thought about how he was supposed to elevate his foot but didn’t know what they could use, since all three pillows were currently under his head and a stack of textbooks didn’t sound very comfortable. When Alex came back, he brought that up.

“I’ll ask Maria to bring one of her big furry pillows,” he offered as he wrapped the plastic bag of ice cubes in a towel. “Once this is on your ankle, I’ll text her.” He climbed into bed and put Michael’s foot in his lap. “You’re getting some colorful bruising, and it’s swollen, but it could definitely be worse.” He gently pressed the ice pack against the side of his ankle. “Want me to just hold it for you for a while?”

Michael chuckled. “You’re ridiculous, I’ll hold it there myself. Come up here.” 

Alex let go of the ice pack and saw that Michael was holding it there with telekinesis. “When I get some more pillows from Maria, we can keep it from moving without your powers.”

“Okay. Still come here.”

He moved carefully up the bed to get under the covers with Micheal. “I’m sorry my idea of fun today was to injure you.”

“Don’t be an idiot, this isn’t your fault.” He snuggled into Alex. “It was an accident. I could have said no at any time.”

“I know, but I still feel bad.”

“Don’t.” He hummed when Alex adjusted a little so he could play with his hair. “That’s a good distraction.”

“I’ll keep doing it then. You’re always taking care of me, I can take care of you for a change.”

“That sounds fantastic.” The acetone was making him feel pretty good and the pain was bearable. “Love you, baby.”

“Love you too.” 

Michael was pretty sure no one had ever held him while he calmed down after hurting himself. It was weird and fucking amazing. He sighed happily has Alex continued to drag his nails lightly over his scalp. “You’re the best boyfriend,” he mumbled.

Alex laughed softly. “I try.”

“You do a good job.” He lifted his head. “You said you’d kiss me.”

“This seems like a perfect opportunity.” He pressed their lips together and they kissed softly for a few moments. “Want me to text Maria to bring the pillow and see if she found crutches?”

“Yah. Can you help me sit up so I can take off my hoodie? I’m hot.”

“Yes, Michael, you’re very attractive,” Alex deadpanned with a sigh and an eye roll, earning a belly laugh. 

Maria was happy to bring pillows and had indeed gotten crutches from her suite mate. When Alex let her in, she also had a big bag of gummy bears for ‘emotional support,’ an Ace bandage, and one of the gel ice packs you put the freezer to keep it cold.

“I knew I liked you,” Michael announced with gratitude. He accepted Alex’s help to sit up a little so he could eat the candy and was patient and appreciative when his boyfriend swapped out the dripping, melted ice bag with the blue pack then wrapped the ace bandage around it loosely to keep it in place. “Thanks, DeLuca.”

“Angelina is about your height, you probably won’t even have to adjust the crutches.”

“She is tall, yah.”

“I’ll spring for pizza so you don’t have to get out of bed to get dinner, Guerin,” Maria offered. 

“Nice try, Maria, I know you have a coupon for a free pizza.”

“I’m still sharing!”

After Maria left to go out with friends, Michael drank what was left of Alex’s nail polish remover. “There’s no real way for me to get more,” Alex explained apologetically. “Maria has acetone-free nail polish remover, and the only person I know well enough to ask for a ride besides you is Dean, and I don’t think I could get him to take me to get it without more questions than I can answer.” Their suite mate was cool, but there was no way that request wouldn’t be weird when at least 200 girls in their residence hall would have it and he didn’t have have polish on his nails right now.

“It’s okay. Just come get in bed.”

It was still early but laying around sounded like the best option for a boy with a fucked up ankle and his sweet significant other. He watched Alex strip down to his boxers and t-shirt and climb up. “We can watch a movie later if you want to.”

“That would be good.”

Michael’d taken the ice pack off for a while. The swelling was down and he was tired of having his leg stretched out. He happily wrapped his arms around Alex and kissed his neck. He loved that with Alex he didn’t feel like he always had to be the strong one. There was a lot of equality in their relationship and it was the best thing that had ever happened to him. 

“My ankle hurts,” Michael complained after a few minutes. 

“I’m sure it does. Do you want to see if Advil will help?”

“No point. Aspirin works a little, but nothing else really does. And aspirin makes my stomach hurt.”

“I wonder if opioids would work?”

“I hope I never have to find out. But I’ve found that acetone and tequila are a pretty effective combination.”

“Let’s hope you don’t hurt yourself bad enough for that, neither of us can buy alcohol yet.”

Michael nuzzled against Alex’s neck, kissing softly before nipping. “Maybe you could distract me.” He smiled when Alex tipped his head to the side, and ran his tongue over the soft skin. 

“I don’t think there’s a sex position that won’t hurt your foot,” Alex laughed, but he didn’t stop the hands that were sliding under his shirt. “You probably shouldn’t exert yourself too much.”

“I’m sure you can think of something, you’re really smart.” Michael grinned when Alex laughed, and enjoyed the little gasp he sucked in when he brushed his fingers over his nipple. “And you’re so creative.”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” Alex complained, but he was already running his hands over Michael’s body under his t-shirt. “Wouldn’t want to put any stress on your system. All the trauma.”

Michael helped Alex pull his shirt off and moaned softly when he started kissing down his chest. “But this is so comforting,” Michael argued, laughing when Alex did. “I feel so much more mentally healthy already.” His fingers gripped Alex’s hair when his teeth closed around his nipple. “Fuck.”

Alex started kissing his way down his stomach. “Your mental health is very important to me.”

“You’re such a good boyfriend,” Michael panted. 

“Lift up but only with your left foot,” Alex instructed. “Don’t push down with your sprained ankle.”

“You’re so smart.” Michael held himself up while Alex pulled his pants down, then off. “Oh, fuck, Alex.” He spread his legs as wide as he could on the twin bed. “Why’re you still dressed?”

“Because I don’t have to be naked to suck you off.” He settled between his legs. “Don’t want you to hurt yourself arching, put your right leg over my shoulder.” He helped Michael position himself. “Your health and well-being are of the utmost importance.”

“I can tell.” He groaned at the first touch of Alex’s hot tongue. “Fuck.” Michael let his head fall back against the pillow. 

“Tell me if this gets too stressful,” Alex teased. Then he swallowed his cock.

“Oh fuck!” Michael was glad Alex didn’t mind if he pulled his hair a little, because he couldn’t keep his hands off his head. “Fuck.” For someone that hadn’t been doing this for very long, Alex was fucking good at it. _He learns fast. Damn._ “Baby, this, I’m not going to last long,” he panted out. “So good.”

In response, Alex doubled his efforts. “Fuck, if you don’t--” 

Alex didn’t pull back so he took that as permission to come, and groaned through his orgasm, fingers tight in Alex’s hair, ankle completely forgotten. He was vaguely aware of Alex releasing him from his mouth and moving a little to breathe, but it was at the periphery of his consciousness. He just panted for a while, feeling tingly and floaty and he’d forgotten how it felt to come after drinking acetone and it was so good. 

Eventually, though, he realized he was pinning Alex to the bed with his face in his crotch, and it was at the very least rude, so he started to move his leg. “Sorry, baby.”

“Don’t be,” Alex answered softly, helping him settle his sore foot on the bed before moving up to offer him a kiss. “Was that a good distraction?”

“Oh fuck yes,” Michael laughed, breathless. He waited while Alex got back under the blanket, then wrapped himself around him, head on his chest. “That was amazing.”

“‘M glad.” Alex rubbed his face against Michael’s soft, springy hair. “I love you.”

Michael smiled. “I love you too, Alex. I think with a little more of your excellent care I’ll be back on my feet. Literally.”

Alex laughed softly. “I don’t know if oral sex really accelerates healing.”

“It’s the emotional support,” Michael laughed. “My emotional well-being is so supported now.”

“Oh good,” he laughed. “I know it’s early, but do you want to sleep for a little while?”

“Yah. That sounds great.” He reached out mentally and turned off their desk lamps. “Joking aside, thanks for taking care of me, Alex. You really are the best boyfriend.”

“You’re sweet. I like taking care of you.”

“I’ll hurt myself more often, just to make you happy.”

“Fuck you.”

Michael cuddled as close as he could, taking comfort from the warm arms around him. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“Jesus fucking christ, Michael, go to sleep.”

**Author's Note:**

> Stay tuned for day 5!


End file.
